Swifts find a last chance saloon

Pub-goers are bringing a whole new meaning to having a “swift one” at a wellknown birdwatchers’ watering hole.

The famous Eel’s Foot public house, nestling on the outskirts of the RSPB’s flagship Minsmere nature reserve, sees customers supping in the shadow of an innovative home for one of our fastest vanishing species.

A 25ft tall “swift tower” has been erected in the pub’s beer garden to welcome birds arriving on the Suffolk coast from their African wintering grounds.

This is the first time a swift tower has been located in a British hostelry and gives these fast-flying but increasingly scarce visitors a place to nest.

Swift numbers crashed by 60% between 1995 and 2020 and the species has been officially Red Listed for its conservation concern. Scientists studying reasons for the decline fear that likely factors are low juvenile survival because of poor summer weather and a dearth of aerial insects.

Modern building design and the renovation of old properties are also the cause of a reduction in the availability of nest sites.

Householders providing bespoke nest boxes, adapted for birds evolved for a life on the wing, can be a boon.

As can swift nest bricks incorporated into new developments and towers located in parks and community areas.

The Eel’s Foot tower is made from the trunk of a Douglas fir, incorporates 45 individual boxes and also has piped recordings of the birds’ high-pitched calls attracting them to their new homes.

Donations from companies and individuals along with grants from the Suffolk and Essex Coast and Heaths

National Landscape, East Suffolk Council as well as Waveney Bird Club funded the project. Bird club president Steve Piotrowski, explains: “Swifts are an integral feature of a British summer.

“Their arrival signals summer is on the way while their agility in the air has inspired poets over the centuries.

They are also very sociable so will not mind nesting in a beer garden full of people. In return, pub-goers will be able to enjoy the sound and spectacle as they enjoy a pint.”